❓ A Member of Parliament questions the Premier about delays in home construction by Nicheliving and the government's response. The Premier outlines government initiatives to address construction sector issues and disputes claims of inaction.
AnsweredQoN 386Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
NICHELIVING — HOME
CONSTRUCTION DELAYS
386. Mr R.S. LOVE to the Premier:
Welcome back, Premier; it is good to
see you in rude, good health.
I
today raised a grievance with the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for
Commerce regarding the dire situation faced
by hundreds of Western Australians due to the situation with builder
Nicheliving. I have to say that the response from the parliamentary secretary
was quite dismal, especially given that several affected Western Australians
were present in the gallery. Considering that the Premier's own
constituents have written to him about this issue, why has the government taken
no action after this length of time, and why did it take immense pressure from
the media and the opposition for the Minister for Commerce to finally schedule
a meeting with Nicheliving for this week?
CONSTRUCTION DELAYS
386. Mr R.S. LOVE to the Premier:
Welcome back, Premier; it is good to
see you in rude, good health.
I
today raised a grievance with the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for
Commerce regarding the dire situation faced
by hundreds of Western Australians due to the situation with builder
Nicheliving. I have to say that the response from the parliamentary secretary
was quite dismal, especially given that several affected Western Australians
were present in the gallery. Considering that the Premier's own
constituents have written to him about this issue, why has the government taken
no action after this length of time, and why did it take immense pressure from
the media and the opposition for the Minister for Commerce to finally schedule
a meeting with Nicheliving for this week?
AnswerView source ↗
I thank the member for the question.
Obviously, we are all disturbed by the disruption to people's lives
that has resulted from the constraints and difficulties we have been
experiencing in our residential construction sector. It has left people in
limbo and created a very distressing circumstance. Anyone who has been involved
in building a home knows how stressful that can be, so we can imagine the
incredible distress these people must be feeling when they see their home
projects delayed for so long as a result of the issues impacting our
residential construction industry. We take very seriously the issues that are
confronting the customers of Nicheliving and the issues that Nicheliving is
experiencing at the moment. We know that it is because of the difficulties in
residential construction that are being
experienced right across our nation. That situation is improving. It is
improving slowly. The supply constraints are now easing, and the
workforce is coming back into the sector, boosted by the work that Minister
McGurk and her team in workforce development have done by providing support for
apprenticeships and early apprenticeships to make sure that we have as many
people on the job as possible.
In
fact, more houses are being completed than started, which will help ease the
construction delays. Our most recent statistics
show a 25 per cent increase in quarterly completions, so we know that we are
making progress. One reason we are making progress is that we have a whole
range of programs and facilities to ensure that we get there. I mentioned the
work done by the Minister for Training and Workforce Development. Obviously,
the government has worked on bringing more housing stock into the market,
whether that is the buying market or the rental market. Members will have seen
the work that we have done with short-term residential accommodation; that
incentive has led to an extra 200 homes coming into the market. We also
recently introduced our vacant home scheme that encourages the owners of vacant
properties to bring those properties onto the market through incentives. Of
course, we have our home builders'
support facility to fast-track the completion of home builds that have been
stranded for more than two years. We have new land tax exemptions so
that people who are constructing or refurbishing their homes are not charged
land tax due to construction delays. We are doubling the cap on individual
payouts through the home indemnity insurance
scheme to protect homebuilders. We are smoothing the pipeline of government
projects to free up skilled labour for the private sector. As I said, we
are investing in a range of measures to make sure that we have more skilled
workers, and that more effort can be put into this area.
Our home builders' loan
facility is not designed for a big company like Nicheliving; by its very
nature, it is limited to five homes per firm. Of course, in this case, we have
many more than that. It is not true to say that the Minister for Commerce has
arranged a meeting with Nicheliving next week as a result of the work of the
Leader of the Opposition. It is in fact the case that she and her team have
been working on this for some time now. One need only look at the work going on
in the State Administrative Tribunal at the moment to know that there is
tension in that system. Building and Energy, the division responsible for
oversighting this, has engaged extensively with both Nicheliving and its
customers to try to find a way through the current impasse and the difficulties
that have been experienced. The Minister for Commerce has been active on this
issue for some time now, and I suspect she will continue to be active for some time to come. The next step of her work
is to meet with Nicheliving, which had already been scheduled for early next week. I look forward to seeing the outcomes
of that meeting so that we can get a good program to see whether we can
resolve these issues.
Obviously, we are all disturbed by the disruption to people's lives
that has resulted from the constraints and difficulties we have been
experiencing in our residential construction sector. It has left people in
limbo and created a very distressing circumstance. Anyone who has been involved
in building a home knows how stressful that can be, so we can imagine the
incredible distress these people must be feeling when they see their home
projects delayed for so long as a result of the issues impacting our
residential construction industry. We take very seriously the issues that are
confronting the customers of Nicheliving and the issues that Nicheliving is
experiencing at the moment. We know that it is because of the difficulties in
residential construction that are being
experienced right across our nation. That situation is improving. It is
improving slowly. The supply constraints are now easing, and the
workforce is coming back into the sector, boosted by the work that Minister
McGurk and her team in workforce development have done by providing support for
apprenticeships and early apprenticeships to make sure that we have as many
people on the job as possible.
In
fact, more houses are being completed than started, which will help ease the
construction delays. Our most recent statistics
show a 25 per cent increase in quarterly completions, so we know that we are
making progress. One reason we are making progress is that we have a whole
range of programs and facilities to ensure that we get there. I mentioned the
work done by the Minister for Training and Workforce Development. Obviously,
the government has worked on bringing more housing stock into the market,
whether that is the buying market or the rental market. Members will have seen
the work that we have done with short-term residential accommodation; that
incentive has led to an extra 200 homes coming into the market. We also
recently introduced our vacant home scheme that encourages the owners of vacant
properties to bring those properties onto the market through incentives. Of
course, we have our home builders'
support facility to fast-track the completion of home builds that have been
stranded for more than two years. We have new land tax exemptions so
that people who are constructing or refurbishing their homes are not charged
land tax due to construction delays. We are doubling the cap on individual
payouts through the home indemnity insurance
scheme to protect homebuilders. We are smoothing the pipeline of government
projects to free up skilled labour for the private sector. As I said, we
are investing in a range of measures to make sure that we have more skilled
workers, and that more effort can be put into this area.
Our home builders' loan
facility is not designed for a big company like Nicheliving; by its very
nature, it is limited to five homes per firm. Of course, in this case, we have
many more than that. It is not true to say that the Minister for Commerce has
arranged a meeting with Nicheliving next week as a result of the work of the
Leader of the Opposition. It is in fact the case that she and her team have
been working on this for some time now. One need only look at the work going on
in the State Administrative Tribunal at the moment to know that there is
tension in that system. Building and Energy, the division responsible for
oversighting this, has engaged extensively with both Nicheliving and its
customers to try to find a way through the current impasse and the difficulties
that have been experienced. The Minister for Commerce has been active on this
issue for some time now, and I suspect she will continue to be active for some time to come. The next step of her work
is to meet with Nicheliving, which had already been scheduled for early next week. I look forward to seeing the outcomes
of that meeting so that we can get a good program to see whether we can
resolve these issues.
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